josh susser

not your typical neuron.
de gustibus non est disputandum.
black lives matter. trans people are people.
pronoun: he.
d.e.i.

#ActuallyAutistic #autistic #ADHD #AuDHD #neurodivergent #neurodiversity
#queer #SciFi #StarTrek #webdev #RubyProgramming #pastafarian #NoBots

Public Key

npub15282tdaj859vwprcw5nemxhtstt4nhmjuvk800c8w0gmx54axndqffcxpp

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs29r49k7er6zk8q3u82fuant4c946emaewxtrhhurh85dn227nfkspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsagda3x

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub15282tdaj859vwprcw5nemxhtstt4nhmjuvk800c8w0gmx54axndqffcxpp

Show more details

Last Notes

2026-07-31 15:40:40 GMT

New #ADHD term: mnemonic trash - the empty container you leave out in plain sight to remind you to buy another one.
We all do this, right?

2026-06-16 15:37:39 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…83es This is when I usually resort to explaining that our needs for accommodation are not mere preferences, and that needs outweigh preferences. I think a lot of allistics see preferences as important social markers - just look at sports fans or book nerds or Swifties vs Juggalos. And not only do they see the world as preference-based factions, they think that talking about those preferences is how they figure out what kind of person you are, and what kind of social status you deserve. So when we ask for an accommodation, think it's a request for our preference to be given extra special consideration compared to theirs, and that triggers their need to exert dominance because everything really does come down to social status for them. If they let you have your "preference" then that's like them granting you higher social status.

2026-06-11 01:42:39 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…m7l3 sorry, but he's more of a dog person

2026-05-31 16:23:24 GMT

When autistics say, "It's exhausting working so hard to fit in all the time," we don't mean we want encouragement to work harder at it. We want y'all to stop demanding we fit into a world that doesn't fit us.
#ActuallyAutistic #autistic

2026-05-28 23:05:26 GMT

- reply

@[email protected] I love it when Jensen gets silly. If you haven't seen Hillywood's Supernatural Parody videos, they're great, and more of that energy
https://youtu.be/tCZy8cAgBlM

2026-05-26 00:15:06 GMT

#StarTrek Voyager #TitleCard
https://autistics-life.s3.bhs.io.cloud.ovh.net/media_attachments/files/116/637/991/058/700/642/original/3c261f508b8fe864.png

2026-04-23 20:27:28 GMT

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo.

2026-04-21 16:21:14 GMT

I think it's time to bring back the term "robber baron". "Techbro" and "broligarch" seem janky in comparison.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robber_baron_(industrialist)

2026-04-16 18:10:53 GMT

I think I've figured out why there are so many more British youtubers with autism channels than Americans. They have public healthcare, so these folks can afford to live off of youtube earnings. Free, universal healthcare would make so many things possible. It's hard to imagine what we could accomplish as a society if we just took care of people.

2026-04-07 19:05:48 GMT

- reply

as I was saying...
https://autistics.life/system/media_attachments/files/116/364/984/021/544/843/original/503fdb6e39b5893d.jpeg

2026-04-07 18:11:03 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…kfng I believe the shift from async comms with durable conversations on forums to ephemeral conversations in chat rooms is an intentional attack on institutional memory by forces of darkness that want to be able to rewrite history to their liking.

2026-04-07 18:08:31 GMT

All it would take is a couple Republicans in the House to walk across the aisle and caucus with Democrats, vote in a Dem Speaker, and start impeachment hearings tomorrow. But there isn't a single Republican with enough backbone to stand up for what is right.

2026-03-28 15:58:36 GMT

Meelo says, become ungovernable! Happy #Caturday
https://autistics.life/system/media_attachments/files/116/307/624/794/397/524/original/8cfb5d8c3299f7ce.jpeg

2026-03-28 15:37:17 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…m7l3 I think "both admired and despised by millions" would add some je ne sais quoi

2026-02-03 17:28:04 GMT

This video is titled "You are being misled about renewable energy technology," but as one comment said it could be called "Technology Connections talks about solar then goes nuclear".
TLDR: An hour infodump on the mathematical inevitability of solar power followed by a 30 minute crie de coeur of Hbomberguy-spitting-facts levels of incandescent rage against the fascism machine.
I've watched TC's videos for a couple years and he's always spot-on, but this video is a whole new level of amazing. Instant classic, well worth the watch, will change your life.
Don't get fooled by the fake ending at one hour – stick around for the good part. He made it with a fake ending so you could use the video to open conversations with people who really need a wake-up call, and explains that fully in the video.
https://youtu.be/KtQ9nt2ZeGM
#TechnologyConnections #SolarPower #RenewableEnergy #AbolishICE

2026-01-26 16:57:04 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…mk4g I leave those comments too when I get worked up enough. Can't remember if anyone has ever liked one of them, but I don't think so. Now and then I get a response from a rando that I should just shut up and turn on captions or read the transcript. Feels like I'm a villain of a Greek myth consigned to a terrible fate in Hades.

2026-01-24 19:21:31 GMT

I bitch about terrible, distracting background music on YouTube videos a lot, because it's a huge problem for me. So many videos I just can't watch because the music is so intrusive and painfully distracting. I get so angry over this, how these creators do extra work to add music that just makes things worse for me, and it feels like they are going out of their way to exclude me. Now and then I get worked up enough to send a ranty email. Here is today's. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if even 100 people asked a creator to cut out the background music, but I suppose we'll never know because it's not like that would ever happen. #ActuallyAutistic
~~~
Like MANY neurodivergent folk with sensory processing issues, I find videos of people talking over distracting background music impossible to watch. Your stupid incessant oboe music is among the worst. If I try to watch one of your videos with it I cannot listen to the words you say because my brain is devoting all its energy to trying to filter out the intrusive music, and then I am stuck with that in my head for days afterward.
I simply cannot watch your videos with background music. It's not that I refuse to, it's that I can't. And it's not just me. This is an ACCESSIBILITY issue for many of your autistic and ADHD viewers who are DISABLED by sensory processing issues, just like flashing lights is for epileptic viewers. Not all background music is bad enough to be a problem, and some is even nice if it's chill enough, but your short-loop oboe riff is terrible.
It's not just me. Pretty much all my autistic friends have similar issues and complain about this A LOT. But nobody ever cares, so I have to nope out of videos like yours all the time, and it's not fair. Maybe you could stop ruining your videos for us and just leave out the music?

2026-01-15 16:49:33 GMT

I simply cannot get my head around what has happened to our country. This video freaks me out like nothing has in the past year. I don't even know how to describe it, but Gov Walz talking about Trump's attacks on Minnesota sounds a lot like Zelenskyy talking about Putin's attacks on Ukraine. It seems America is now at war with itself, because that's exactly what Trump wants.
It does feel like we got here partly due to the feckless leadership of Dems and Progressives, but this is Walz stepping up and meeting the moment. More of this, please. Lots more. And stay strong, Minnesota. Remember there's more of us than there are of them.
#uspol
https://youtu.be/y2Z3ZUbL2e0

2025-12-21 17:02:10 GMT

The tendency of species of animals to evolve into crabs is called carcinization. Is there a similar word for the tendency of groups of humans to evolve into cults? Because that seems to be a thing that happens a lot, and we should probably talk about it, so having a word for it would help.

2025-12-20 17:36:21 GMT

Meelo wishes a happy #Caturday to all the little people out there
https://autistics.life/system/media_attachments/files/115/753/102/741/364/651/original/a69c1e56060e1a91.jpeg

2025-12-03 21:39:38 GMT

A short tale from way back when I worked at Apple: My team had a lot of lunchtime meetings and they usually got pizza to feed us lunch while we worked. There were two of us on the team who were vegetarian, so they'd order six or eight pizzas for the team and all of them would have meat except for the one meatless pizza they had for just the two of us. But everyone likes vegetarian pizza, so people would get in line, take what looked good which included the veggie pizza, and by the time I got to the veggie pizza it would be gone and I'd have no lunch (and the other vegetarian had the same problem, of course). They tried to get the non-vegetarian people to stop eating the veggie pizza, then tried to hide it so only we veggies could get it, but nothing worked. So I suggested they order four kinds of vegetarian pizzas and a couple pizzas with meat, and that worked out great and there was much rejoicing.
This is a post about gatekeeping disability accommodations.

2025-11-14 16:17:56 GMT

Society: Be yourself.
Autistic person: Hello, I exist.
Society: No, not like that.
#ActuallyAutistic

2025-10-10 15:23:18 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…83zn I must have one!

2025-08-20 04:02:58 GMT

gods give me the confidence of a neurotypical man explaining autism to an autistic person

2025-08-08 17:02:09 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…uhjq Indeed. My impression is that people who don't have sensory processing issues think it's a matter of preference, like how some people prefer chocolate over vanilla. They don't understand that it's actually like how some people have different taste buds so cilantro tastes like soap, or have allergies that make eating some foods impossible. That's not a preference, that's a requirement. And because they think it's a preference, they believe there should be equity among preferences so everyone should get treated the same, even the people without disabling sensory issues. It's so stupid but it's almost impossible to get some people to understand the difference.

2025-08-07 17:31:19 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…t5r6 Have you done any neurogenomic testing? Sometimes that can be a factor in what helps. For instance, I have a COMT variant that makes taking certain supplements cause stress instead of calming me (like folic acid). I'm no expert here so can't offer more specific advice, but if you're struggling to find compatible supplements that might be something to look into.

2025-07-31 15:48:37 GMT

Meelo loves his transom window. Not sure if it's because of the fresh air or how it lets him look down on his lessers. #CatsOfMastodon
https://autistics.life/system/media_attachments/files/114/948/631/064/118/936/original/6c51d9464e09ace7.jpeg

2025-07-29 15:51:09 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…2r82 classic solution-in-search-of-a-problem product development cycle

2025-07-29 15:44:59 GMT

Ever get that #ADHD thing where you get in panic-motivated productivity mode so hard that when you get the thing that was panicking you done you just roll that over to the rest of your tasks and accidentally use up all your spoons while getting stuff done? Feels like I have a productivity hangover today. But nothing motivates like an impending deadline, eh?
#ActuallyADHD

2025-07-25 22:23:18 GMT

Hey #StarTrek hashtag users posting about Starfleet Academy. Can you please use a CW when you post photos and promotional info? I don't want to know who the characters are or see photos of anything. I just want to enjoy the show WHEN IT COMES OUT. It doesn't matter if Paramount posts spoilers to market the show - they're still spoilers and need a CW. Thanks! 🖖

2025-07-19 23:02:33 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…83zn There was Amazon's Mechanical Turk, though it was built for a different kind of interaction.

2025-07-19 17:12:58 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…ywqr I also learned how to be professionally social through masking for my whole career, though I was unaware I'm autistic until I turned 50. I've read that that kind of masking often comes with a psychological cost, something I think all of us autistic maskers know from experience. Pretty sure decades of that is a big part of why I'm burnt out.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39139513/
> Increased autistic masking behaviors are associated with reports of increased depression, anxiety, burnout, and exhaustion in autistic people, and thus, exploring the roots and impact of autistic masking is an important mental health topic.

2025-07-09 20:57:29 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…y3mz well, obviously. that's why he's the manager!

2025-07-09 17:51:09 GMT

Nothing about us without us.
Why is that so hard? You wouldn't trust a man to talk about women's issues or a straight person to talk about gay rights, so why would you want to hear a non-autistic person talk about autism?
#ActuallyAutistic

2025-07-08 16:08:38 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…85tn Out here in California, we had a big warehouse full of fireworks explode and the fire was so big they couldn't put it out for days and some people died. Then there's all the wildfires people start with fireworks that also kill people. It's a typically American problem, that giving a minority of people a few minutes of entertainment once a year means a bunch of people and a lot of wilderness are simply collateral damage that we're expected to put up with.

2025-07-01 21:31:40 GMT

It's not Alligator Alcatraz, dammit. It's Alligator Auschwitz.
It's a fucking concentration camp, not a prison.

2025-06-21 21:40:38 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…uhjq grubhub always sends a txt begging for me to give the driver a bigger tip and it always interrupts my dinner

2025-06-20 21:29:03 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…85tn except for the part where some big company spies on you through your own household cameras, then shares that video with the police

2025-06-15 00:50:11 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…85tn @nprofile…hlkp @nprofile…tcsn can i get off this thread plz?

2025-06-14 23:06:09 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…85tn How cool. Congrats! Would policy change include banning ABA?

2025-06-13 19:08:07 GMT

I really want to be part of the NoKings protest in SF tomorrow, but I do not have the spoons or means to attend safely in my own. Maybe I'll just go to Dolores Park and hand out some USA flags. Anyone in SF want to be my protest buddy for an hour around 11:30am?

2025-05-29 16:34:31 GMT

Meelo hopes your week has been going well and you've been getting your naps in. #CatsOfMastodon
https://autistics.life/system/media_attachments/files/114/592/085/943/785/970/original/0c590cb38063a4c9.jpeg

2025-05-22 17:16:39 GMT

I am so tired of neurotypicals using their platforms to rally their followers to bully us #ActuallyAutistic folk for not conforming to their communication style. There's this way they get all smug about it, like bullying and shaming us is a way to show how good they are for defending their neurotype from ever having to meet anyone else halfway. And you can't ever call them out for it, because they'll just turn their followers against you for daring to disagree. NT privilege is the bane of my existence.

2025-05-18 15:38:36 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…hr7s Sounds like you got rid of a clog in the pipes. That one thing that needed to get said was interfering with other things getting said, and after you said it, that unclogged the pipe and things can flow again. Quite familiar with that myself. I think that's a particularly nasty side of monotropism (or whatever they call the ADHD side of it).
So, how's the weather been? 😜

2025-05-17 16:47:12 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…83zn In the 80s, I used to say C was structured assembly code. Still haven't found a better description, though yours does have some merit :)

2025-04-23 15:44:49 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…85tn the company i buy cat food from has really upsetting marketing emails because they try to make them seem inner-circle personal. so they send emails with subjects like "ARE YOU OK?" or "We miss you...". borderline abusive crap. i hate it.

2025-04-21 16:14:57 GMT

OK, so this RFKjr attack on autistic people is terrible and demands a response. But the response can't be only to go on the defensive, because then all we can do is try to lose ground more slowly. We need to go on offense and fight for expansion of autistic rights and protections. This is the moment for it because people are paying attention, and we might be able to turn that into support for positive change. Look at all the support there is for trans rights and protections now, largely in response to government actions against trans folk. We could do that, too.
I can think of a thing or two to push for: 1) Ban ABA. 2) Ban electric shock torture at Judge Rotenberg Center.
What else would be a good goal to fight for to expand autistic rights and protections? What about expanding support for us, or having any support at all for autistic adults? What changes do we want in schools? What about having texting available as an alternative for all public phone-based systems? I don't know what makes sense, but I want to hear if you have an idea.
But banning ABA would be amazing and if we got nothing else out of this moment that would be enough for me. Who would be a good leader for this effort? Do we need an autistic celebrity spokesperson? And does anyone have a "talk to your electeds about banning ABA starter kit?"
#ActuallyAutistic #AutisticRights #BanABA #StopTheShock

2025-04-15 15:53:48 GMT

I have been autistically online for nearly a decade now, and I have never seen the Autistic community as worked up over something as we are about RFKjr's looming fascist bullshit. He obviously wants to use us to push his antivax nonsense, and at the same time he wants to do a eugenics and eliminate us from the population. This is a Red Alert. Glad to see folks aren't being quiet about it, but it's also scary to see everyone as freaked out as I am.
#ActuallyAutistic

2025-04-11 17:19:57 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…83zn oh that's interesting, and a new one to me. do you feel like that's on the same level of instinctual/automatic response as the others?

2025-04-11 16:20:55 GMT

Remember folks, it's not just Fight or Flight. It's Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn.
I sometimes wonder if we need a fifth Fuck-it-all response, where you try to ignore what happened because there's no way to react that doesn't result in things getting worse.

2025-04-09 19:54:33 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…uhjq i think those people are telling on themselves, revealing what they would do if no one was watching

2025-04-09 15:37:01 GMT

my moment of #ActuallyAutistic joy: someone liked how I explained a term
https://autistics.life/system/media_attachments/files/114/308/744/361/714/402/original/ad3b9dd19acc5e2d.jpeg

2025-04-05 15:58:15 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…83zn @nprofile…0plz Yes, as an autistic person I am extremely familiar with people mistaking my sincere but awkward attempts to engage in good faith dialog as some kind of attack and turn on me and do their utmost to destroy me. But there's no way to safety-net that kind of conversation with enough disclaimers or context to avoid that kind of mistake, because many people react to even that as some kind of attack (which I think you just said another way).

2025-04-05 15:21:10 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…83zn @nprofile…0plz I don't think it's the text medium that does it, as I have plenty of interactions that are pleasant and constructive online, if there does always seem to be some bad apples ruining things anywhere I go. I think it's at least partly that internet-scale social interactions don't incur the same costs for transgressing social norms that in-person encounters in a local community do, so people who get off by getting in someone's face and being a pain in the ass can do that all day long with no repercussions, so that's what they do. That's why I think global-scale social media platforms is a dumb idea, and we need community-scale systems that work *with* the social norms, instead of enabling people to get around them.

2025-04-03 01:06:17 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…c8zk https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/I%27m_a_doctor,_not_a...

2025-03-28 02:47:28 GMT

you can tell i’ve been working on my taxes since all the broken electronics are in a pile for recycling and the top of the bookcase has been thoroughly dusted

2025-03-22 17:15:55 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…y3mz hmm. they might be the most annoying parasites, but I don't think they are as deadly as the competition.

2025-03-22 16:02:44 GMT

My personal evolution of which vocation I consider the most deadly parasites on humanity, as I have gained age and wisdom:
1. used car salesfolk
2. lawyers
3. insurers
4. politicians
5. landlords

2025-03-07 17:41:37 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…2r82 I have the 27UN850 - 27" 4K ultrafine, and those keys don't work, nor do any other key combos I've fiddle with. There isn't even a brightness slider in Settings/Displays. Are you running any extra software to help the LG integration? I really would like the volume keys to work, even more than brightness!

2025-03-07 17:06:06 GMT

I had to replace my old iMac that died suddenly last month, and went for a mac mini with an LG monitor, because Apple's displays are ridiculously pricey. Wow, what a world of difference. The monitor is just fine for image quality, but system integration is for shit. There is no way to control the brightness except through the display's configuration UI, which involves several steps using the mini-joystick to navigate a bunch of options. I can pipe sound through the display's speakers, but there's no way to control the volume. They keyboard brightness and volume keys do absolutely nothing, and there's no controls in the Settings for those either. I guess there's no good integration with any hardware except Apple's own brand. It's hard to guess whether it's intentional and Apple is doing anti-competitive monopoly stuff, but it sure feels like that.

2025-02-06 23:04:53 GMT

Is there anyone in the USA who hasn't had their SSN compromised now? At some point very soon we're going to need to reconsider the Social Security Number and how it works. It feels like we need to throw the whole SSN system out and start over from scratch. At the very least, the number needs some extra digits for error detection/correction. But the SSN was never intended to be a general-purpose financial/medical/legal identifier, and it feels foolish to keep building systems that rely on the SSN being kept private. Because everyone's SSN has been hacked or stolen now, so how can we keep pretending they are private or provide any kind of security?

2025-01-30 04:07:54 GMT

- reply

@nprofile…qp30 Paul Wesley as James Kirk is really growing on me. I could watch a show with him in the chair.

2025-01-29 17:09:07 GMT

That #autistic feeling when you're the one who always initiates something with someone and you think you might be bothering them with too much of that, so you back off and wait for them to initiate something the next time but they never do.
#ActuallyAutistic

2024-11-27 17:26:16 GMT

If there's one thing I could convey to future generations about the troubled times we are living through these days, it's how utterly fucking stupid all of this feels. None of it makes sense. It's like human civilization decided to destroy itself out of spite.

2024-11-08 19:52:17 GMT

- reply

@npub1zpf…kjxy I left twitter when he let the nazis back on - there could be no clearer sign that it was no longer a safe place for me. That was the crucial point for me - my own safety, not the effect my leaving or staying had on the platform. And patronizing a nazi bar doesn't reclaim it or make it less nazi - it desensitizes you and trains you to ignore the threats around you, and puts money in the nazi owner's pocket. It's hard to have to make or find a new place to hang out, but it's better than being around nazis. The goal is to exclude nazis, not to find ways to coexist with them, because that's impossible for decent people.

2024-11-08 17:27:37 GMT

Deleted my mothballed xitter accounts. I'd kept them around but private so no one could impersonate me, but screw that. Even that's not worth it now.